Château Pichon Longueville Baron, 2ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2019
If there's one Chateau we consistently under-rate, it's Pichon Longueville. We regularly have to eat our words as in bottle tastings consistently outperform our initial assessments. This year we will give the benefit of the doubt straight away - we didn't think the sample we were sent was representative. The Pibran and Tourelles samples were slightly oxidised and the Pichon lacked it's normal drama - it appeared lack-luster and bit tired. That said, there was still plenty of blue and black fruit on the palate and the nose hinted at some mineral complexity. We'll reserve judgement until it's in bottle.
critic reviews
The 2019 Pichon Baron is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges out of the gate with energetic notes of blackcurrant cordial, juicy blackberries, and licorice, followed by hints of tar, raspberry leaves, and rose oil. The rich, seductive, medium to full-bodied palate is jam packed with black fruit preserves layers, supported by firm grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and layered.
The 2019 Pichon Baron is quite closed on the nose, blackberry, bilberry and incense, with graphite and cedar developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, not quite as finessed as Pichon Lalande, but with great structure and density on the close. It needs a little more precision to develop on the finish but just give it time. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Baron will go down as one of this chateau's great wines of the modern era, along with 2016, 2010 and 1989. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of cassis and plums mingled with notions of cigar wrapper, sweet loamy soil and violets, it's full-bodied, velvety and layered, with superb concentration, lively acids and rich, powdery tannins. Perfumed and resonant, this is a profound young Pauillac that bears more of a resemblance to its neighbor Chateau Latour than to Pichon Lalande this year. Pichon Baron was one of the great deals of the en primeur campaign, and readers who purchased futures are to be congratulated on their foresight.
Highest proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon on record, a reflection of how exceptionally well this grape did in 2019. The aromatics are all-enveloping, powerful and nuanced and totally delicious, drawing you in and refusing to let go. Slate, pencil lead, cassis, damson, layer upon layer of brilliance, if not quite the over-aweing concentration and enveloping character of the 2016. 80% new oak.